Brainstorming
by YuriCore
Summary: The girls try to come up with ways to make Ichigo Mashimaro more popular.


"What a boring manga," Miu said one day.

"Hm?" said the other girls in unison, turning to look at Miu. They were all sitting lazily around in Chika's room as usual.

"This is a boring manga," said Miu. "Our lives are so ordinary, so why would anyone want to read it? We don't do anything special."

"Sure we do," said Ana.

"Well I hardly ever get any fan mail!" said Miu. "Not even one letter or email per day! How about you guys?"

"I get a couple per day," said Chika.

"So do I," said Ana.

"Um, I get at least one each day," said Matsuri.

"I get two or three every day," said Nobue.

"What?" said Miu. "Inexplicable! I'm the cutest, so therefore I should be the one getting the most!"

"Well it's not like Onee-chan is cute, so I don't think it has anything to do with that," Chika said.

"Well we need to get some more fans!" Miu said.

"I guess so..." said Ana.

"But how would we do that?" said Chika.

"Well we have to think of what all the popular manga have that we don't!" said Miu.

"Like what?" said Nobue.

"Like magic?" Ana suggested.

"Yes, exactly!" said Miu. "A lot of manga have magic in them! The characters often have heroes, villains, danger! Some sort of overall plot!"

"Well that's not really the type of manga this is supposed to be," Chika said. "It's supposed to be a slice-of-life with comedy."

"Comedy?" said Miu. "What comedy?"

"For the most part, you," said Chika.

"Really?" said Miu. "I'm the comedy? Are they trying to make a fool out of me? Who writes this thing?"

"Barasui."

"What kind of a name is that?"

"Well... not a real name... a pen name," said Ana.

"Hm..." said Miu. "Okay, well... well I still say we need some sort of plot. Obviously, Onee-chan has to be the villain."

"What do you mean 'obviously'?" said Nobue.

Not answering, Miu continued with her ideas. "I'm the protagonist. Obviously." Chika narrowed her eyes. "Chi-chan can be my sidekick. Ana-chan and Matsuri-chan can stand around looking cute or something."

"Or something?" said Ana.

"You see, Onee-chan is this evil person trying to take over our world, and I'm trying to defeat her. Chi-chan will aid me by doing my chores and homework while I'm working my butt off trying to save everyone. Matsuri-chan is the meganekko who unintentionally ruins my plans and is basically an annoying obstacle to me. But she looks cute, so no one cares about that and they just forgive her. Ana-chan... Ana-chan has almost no role but to cosplay as a bunny rabbit. Got it?"

Everyone looked at Miu strangely.

"Okay then, forget it!" said Miu. "I thought of a better idea! What one thing makes a manga almost completely guaranteed to be popular?" When no one answered, she said, "Fanservice! Duh!"

"And how are we supposed to go about adding more of that?" said Chika flatly.

"Well there's a few ways," said Miu. "First of all, we could add more panchira."

"More?" said Chika. "How much do we have already?"

Miu pulled out a volume of the Ichigo Mashimaro manga and flipped through it, showing the other girls all the panchira. Their faces slowly turned redder and redder with every page turned.

"Oh, look!" said Miu. "Finally! Chi-chan panchira!"

"AGH!" said Chika. She snatched the manga from Miu and threw it across the room, where it hit the wall.

"Aw, you're all embarrassed!" said Miu.

"No more of me!" said Chika, sweating.

"Okay then," said Miu. "Ana-chan, stand up!"

"Huh?" said Ana. "Why?"

"Just do it," said Miu.

Ana hesitantly stood up, and Miu flipped up Ana's skirt. Ana quickly spun around and smoothed out her skirt. "Don't do that!" she said.

"No, we have to do it again so I can get a picture," said Miu, taking out her phone. "Then Barasui can draw it into the manga for us. Hey Ana-chan, how about you sit down with your panties exposed instead? If I take a picture of you while I'll flipping up your skirt, it might turn out blurry."

"Why would I do something so humiliating?" said Ana.

"Don't you want a bunch of fanboys, Ana-chan?" said Miu. "They'd love it!"

Ana groaned. "Okay, fine, but don't expect me to do this again." She sat down on the floor with one knee bent and the other unbent, so that her pink panties were peeking out from under her skirt. Nobue stared.

Miu grinned. She grabbed the hem of Ana's skirt and pulled it up a little more. "Perfect!"

Ana's cheeks were as pink as her panties. "Just take it already. This is embarrassing."

"Got it!" said Miu. Ana quickly pulled her skirt back down and Miu showed Ana the picture. Ana blushed again.

"Well, go show it to him!" said Ana.

"Who?"

Ana groaned. "Barasui! That's who the picture was for, remember? So he can put it in the manga!"

"Oh..." said Miu.

"Hey, wait!" said Ana. "You forgot? Were you only taking that picture so you could have it on your phone and look at it whenever you want?"

"Well, I could do that," said Miu. "And I could also show it to everyone at school." She grinned mischievously.

"WHAT!?" said Ana. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Sure I would!" said Miu.

Miu was soon laying flat on her face.

"So can we stop trying to think of more things to improve the manga now?" said Chika.

"No, not enough fanservice," said Miu, standing up. "Chi-chan, take all your clothes off."

And then Miu was lying on her face again.

"There's gotta be something else missing," said Nobue.

"Well maybe we should go somewhere exciting," said Chika. "Maybe we need a change of setting, you know?"

"Or, even better!" said Miu.

"Oh great, what have you come up with this time?" said Chika.

"Please nothing dangerous, Miu-chan!" said Matsuri.

"Well," said Miu. "The popular manga _always_ have... romance!"

"Oh great. Now I'm scared," said Chika.

"So who's the best pairing?" said Miu.

"There are no pairings," said Chika.

"What do you mean 'no pairings'? There totally are, just not enough is done with them!"

"Well we're kind of young for romance anyway," said Chika.

"Yeah, my mom doesn't let me date yet," said Matsuri.

"Well Nobue is plenty old enough to be dating," said Miu. "But obviously, she's a hopeless case." Nobue huffed. Miu looked at Ana.

"Huh? Don't involve me again!" said Ana.

"Ana-chan, which one of us do you wanna be paired up with?" said Miu.

Ana looked panicked. "You mean someone in this room? I don't like any of you guys that way!"

"Well if you had to date one of us, who would it be?"

"Uh..." Ana blushed, looking at the ground. "Matsuri-chan... I guess..."

"Oh, perfect!" said Miu. She grabbed Matsuri and shoved her towards Ana. "Aw, what a cute couple you two will make!" Ana and Matsuri looked flustered.

"Why me?" Matsuri said to Ana.

"Well, we're best friends and we've always gotten along well," said Ana. "So I think we would work okay as a couple too."

"I guess that's true," said Matsuri.

"Exactly!" said Miu. "Now Chi-chan, who do you wanna be paired up with?"

Chika's face paled. _Well, I suppose I can't pick Ana or Matsuri, since they're already paired with each other... and I don't want to date my sister..._ she thought. _So, I only have one option._ Chika bit her lip and sighed. "Micchan."

"Oh, really?" said Miu. She raced to Chika's side and gave her a huge hug. Chika almost fell over. "Really really really, Chi-chan?"

"Hey, don't get any ideas!" said Chika, blushing. "I mean, I don't really have much choice! We probably wouldn't work as a couple anyway!"

"Really?" said Miu.

"Really?" said Nobue.

"Really?" said Ana and Matsuri.

"What? Do you guys all think we would?" said Chika.

"Well you two fight a lot, but you've known each other for a long time and you seem really close," said Ana.

"Yeah," said Nobue.

"Oh..." said Chika. "Well... I don't like girls anyway..."

"Are you _sure_?" said Nobue, raising an eyebrow at Chika.

"What, would something make you think otherwise?"

Nobue shrugged. "Well, no... but I think you _could_ like girls."

Chika looked away. "Well, maybe. Maybe."

Miu grinned. "Okay, it's settled!"

Embarrassed with the conversation, Chika quickly said, "So is there anything else we should do to make Ichigo Mashimaro more exciting?"

"Well, we could introduce a new character," said Miu.

"Like who?"

"Like a _superhero_."

"A superhero? Where are we supposed to get one of those?"

"Easy. We'll just jump into another manga, find a superhero, and bring her back. Dead or alive."

"What do you mean, dead or alive!?"

Ignoring that question, Miu walked over to the fourth wall and waved to the readers of this FanFiction story. "Well, that's all for now folks!" The 'screen' went black.

The next day:

"Hey Ana-chan, Ana-chan!" said Miu. "Come look at this!"

Ana walked over to the computer and gasped. There was the picture Miu had taken of her, posted online for all to see, and it had gotten many likes and comments.

"Woah!" said Ana.

"Yup, you have more fans than all of us other characters combined," said Miu. "See? I told you it was a good idea! And I bet you've gotten a bunch of fan mail too!"

"Really?" Ana shoved Miu out of the desk chair and sat there herself. She opened up her inbox.

Two hundred emails.


End file.
